Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1887-04-14
TAPPED THE TRAINS.
Losses Resulting from the Riff
ing of Panhandle Freights in
the Hundreds OF Thousands
Seventy-five of Eighty Trair
Crews Implica,ed-Forty
eight Jailed at Pittsburg.
ROYAL ROBBERY.

The Pan Handle Road "a sufferer TO "A Large
EStent--s.venty-fiye Freight Crews
Involved.
PIRIsBURG, April 1.-THE most
important arrests ever made in this
part of the country were begun at all
early hour this morning. They Will
not he completed before late this alter
noon, and at that time the officers Of
the Panhandle railroad will have in
custody the most daring gang OF rail-
road robber. this country has ever
known. How many members belong
10 tue gang Is not known, but they
run up into the hundreds. Their
steslings extend over period OF two
or three years aud the amount stolen
reaches nearly 100000. Simultaneous
arrests were made all along the line Of
the Panhandle road between here ana
Columbus. Warrants have been la
the hands of officers for some time,
aud the persons arrested will comprise
nearly the entire number of freight
men Of the line. They include the
conductors, brakemen, engineers and
firemen. The riugleaders of the gang,
who are outside the railroad business,
are known, and some Of them are now
believed 10 be under arrest. The first
of the series of arrests were made
about > o'clock this morning, the po-
lice surprising men at their boarding
houses. Further arrests were made
between . O'Clock and daylight, when
forty.six men, all railroad employees,
conductors, brakemen, tiremen and
engineers, were behind the bars. In
speaking OF the arrests u prominent
official of the Panhandle road said !:
"For three years past the Panhandle
road has been systematically robbed.
Cars on sidings and cars in moving
trains were broken open and goods
stolen, including every description Of
merchandise. Ii il estimated that at
least s300,OO0 worth of goods were
taken, for which the company had u
pay. In August last We got clue.
and the company determined to push
IL Ia the end. Detectives were em-
ployed who followed up every scent,
sud finally We had the inform ltiOn on
which 10 proceed. When everything
was ready we decided 10 mske move.
ment all along the line from Coum-
bus to Pittsburg, and . o'clock this
morning was fixed To strike the blow.
About eighty warrrnts were issued for
meu In Pitt-burg. | cannot tell how
many for other places. but il was at
every point along the line; it will run
up into the hundreds. Ii l. the big
gest thug of the kind that ever hap.
pened in Pillsburg, or In railroad mat.
ter- ia the world, for nothing like II
ever happened before. cannot tell
who the men are under arrest, or who
the ringleaders are. This mucL | will
cay, however, We suspect outsider OF
being implicated in the robbery, buI
know nothing positively"
Among those arrested was man
named Baker against whom there are
thirty-eigbt charges. Early one morn.
ing some months ago al Sheridan sta'
ton, near this city, a train WAS stop
ped for water. An attack was made
on the crew, and in the fight the fire.
man was shot. He sfterward died
from the injuries. At day break IL wac
found that Two ears had been broken
open, aud the contents stolen. Baker
II accused of firing the shot that killed
the fireman, and this il understood t.
be one of the thirty.eight charges
against him.
John II. Hampton. ESD, attorney
for the Pennsylvania company, was
seen this morning In the Office Of the
detective agency, where sitting amidst
n Heterogeneous collection of plunder
he said: These robberies have beer
carried on systematically for years
The company has long been aware
that there was leakage somewhere
aud ss early a. September last they
quietly commenced Investigations
Detectives were placed on train,
where the goods could be watched anC
the thieves caught. We had already
discovered that the culprit- were EN-
ployes of the company, In Septem
her there we're eighty crews Of freight
trains on the Panhandle road cominI
into Plttsburg. Ofthese eighty crews
no less than .eveuty-iive were found {,
be- crooked. a crew consists OF Il con
ducter, fiagman aud two brakemen
In some cases all the men were involv
ed, in Others only part The state
ment that the engineers and tiremeI
were mixed up ia the robberles !
wrong--uot single one is involved
The goods were obtained 10y the theive
in various ways. In many instance.
the seals were broken, while In nthe
hatchets were USED Ia cut u hole in tn
end of the car, through which the met
crowded and took what they coveted
They then reported il in bad con
ditlon, claiming that the holt
had been made hy accident. The op
erations were all the result of combl
nation. Arrangements were carefully
made and each rascal was assigned "a
his particular part Of the work III
much the same way rs bank robbery
Is conducted by professional cracks
men. A thing which alarmed u'
more than anything else was that they
stole large quantities of whiskey and
drank IL in their cabooses. They
needed vessels to hold the liquors ~
they stole milk cans aud Kept u In
them. Not daring To keep whiskey
openly Ia the cars, they tore up tht
flooring and hid IL underneath. Mer
,.a.a constantly rsnprtpi drunk or